Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1887-10-08

There WIS a grave IN the chnrchYHTt at
Vile II ARRAY, and Oh the haadstone was the
name ni Henriette Laroque, with the date of
her death engraved upon it, hut she who
slept beneath was not the unhappy young
wife of that still more unfortunate man.
Hetriette. after that last day at the court,
had fallen into susi, stale of mental apathy
as would have car.-d her friends the iivcliest
apprehension had the poor creature had any
one capable Of approaching her dangerous
condition; hut those who surrounded her
thought this only the natural reaction after
such acnte Suffering aS she had undergone.
And 50 at last the poor orer1-r"ught brain
give way and She lost hrr reason completely.
Her instinct, which now governed her move
mefts. made ner feel that thi was an un-
pleasant place, that it WIS connected some
how with something that gave her pam, and
she wandered off into the woods. harrheaded,
i'll her simple black dres, which She had now
adopted entirely. and with thin house Shippers
on her tiny feet
The silence and calm OF the Good green for
est soothed her ami she wandered down to the
waters edge While there little hoat came
floating along, teimntitSs, and little eddy
brought it within her reach " it'll child
ish, nueanng laugh she seized it and drew
it gently to her and then sprang in, and the
movement gave inpetIs to the boat, which
tioated out and into the swift current. The
gentle movement OF the boat GAINED the
overwrought nerves and HeITielte Tell asleep
and never awoke until davl- HI oil the FOL
lowing morning
She was far away from her home then and
in the heart Of a mountainous region, where
herds and fiocks were browsing and farming
IN the valleys was the principal industry. At
bend III the river some floating brushwOod
turned the little boat Ia the bank and Henri
cite stepped ashore, with one bare foot and
one foot shod with IA satin slipper
Her blind instinct led her toward habita-
ton and she lmpcd along until she reached a
farm. and she went on silently, like a black
shadow, and NJ tagged walk to an open
doorway, through the door and INTO a large,
neat farm Kitchen, where she stood smiling
with childish Innocence upon the astoniahed
inmates.
The owners Of this farm were an old couple
named Dubois, and they were chidless, and
had been very unfortunate in their crops for
three or four years They were simple,
ignorant and superstitious, but possessed of
| good hearts They had not heard Henriette
| come in, nor had they seen her until some
| how they turned and there she was. She
smiled and appeared so gentle, and yet so
strange that they regarded her with awe,
| and she sat down with them at the table p nd
/ ate like fanished creature, hut they saw
that her soft, white hands had never done
| any work They asked her questions as to
| whence she came, who she was, but the only
answer she would give was:
| ~ know nothing about it
| At night the good old couple placed her in
their own clean bed and they slept upon a
| pallet. They said to each other:
| I'VE must keep her. She may be Mas
cote and bring us good mck again
And so poor demented Henriette found
shelter and a home with this simple, worthy
couple and she staid there c0ntentedIy, help
! ing the old woman in many ways.
| Always smiling, always gentle and amiable
and whether it was that she was a Masrotte
or no, the next eight seasons harvests We're
so full and abundant and everything pros.
pered so well with these two old people, that
| one might say that their kindness to help
less stranger had brought Gods blessing
with it.
| But these poor creatures lived so far away
| from Paris, and knew so little of what passed
| in the world outside of their narrow valley
| that they could never have imagined the
| truth, aud as Henriette had dropped into
| their world without warning or knowledge
they accepted her advent and never dreamed
| of making inquiries They called her Marie
not knowing any other name, and she wa.
/ treated far better than they used themselves
| What work she did was done voluntarily
| She fed the chickens and lambs and gathered
fruit. and did much sewing, her beautiful
work seeming like fairy stitches to the old
| people But her out door life and the pure
air, and excellent food rendered her physical
health much more robust than it had ever
been, and her chest, which had shown ten
dency OF weakness filled out with renewed
vigor, and her beauty took richer type,
even though clouded by the impenetrable
mists of insanity Her insanity took mild
tyne and she seemed to have gone back
mentally to the state of a child of 6 or z, SO
innocent and so ignorant did she appear. She
spoke very rarely, and then only in mono
| syllables, and to every question that was
asked Of her on any subject she replied:
81 do not know" and then she might after
ward say what was desired of her. but il was
indelibly fixed in that poor wrecked in
| telligence that she must always disclain any
| knowledge.